Newly elected GHS rising junior class student government president Spencer Faragasso campaigned on three promises to his classmates.

Spencer, who is also known on campus as The Muffin Man, a moniker that makes him smile modestly, cut his teeth this year as vice president of the sophomore class as he waged a crusade to stave off a price increase on muffins.

“After the muffin situation this year, people called me the muffin man. I adopted it. I rolled with it. I’m the Muffin Man.”

Next year as junior class president, Faragasso said muffins, unfortunately, are still on his plate. He said there is a rumor that the federal government has made changes in legislation affecting school cafeteria food, and that, again, muffins are in jeopardy. This time, however, it is not their price, but their spot on the menu that is at stake.

Faragasso said he plans to reach out to Food Manager Vicki Gregg to find out what is fact versus fiction and, if necessary, reprise his role as The Muffin Man.

But even more than muffins, Faragasso is passionate about the indignity and unsanitary situation surrounding the urinals in the boys’ bathrooms at GHS. He explained that except for the boys rooms in the science wing, urinals in general are placed too close together.

The rising junior said the urinals deprive boys of privacy and are unsanitary. Asked by Greenwich Free Press if that comment was a reference to “splashing,” Faragasso nodded in the affirmative.

“The teachers’ bathrooms all have single stalls,” he said. “I think it’s outrageous. There are urinal dividers in the science wing but nowhere else.”

Then, segueing to the topic of locker rooms, he continued. “The boys’ locker room smells. It smells like a dump. It’s disgusting,” he added. “Kids are getting staph infections. I don’t even want to go in there.”

“Considering they are spending $50 million on a new auditorium, the least they can do is clean the bathrooms and make them more sanitary and acceptable,” Faragasso said, emphatically. He explained that he had broached the topic with the administration this year and had been told the process would be too expensive, and wold involve putting the job out to bid with contractors.

Passing Time
Faragasso said his other goal is to lobby for an increase in passing time for students to move from one class to another. The teen, who is interested in pursuing a career in politics after college, said that about half of his class of 700 voted in the student government elections and that he won with a majority of 63%.

“I go to a huge school, and five minutes to go to classes — and an extra 2 minutes if you’re coming from the science wing. I believe that’s still not long enough,” he said. “Try getting through with backpack weight. It slows us down. That needs to be changed.”

Asked if he minded standing out among his peers for having a passion for change at GHS, Faragasso said, “Most teenagers are apathetic. That’s why I wanted to run. Student government is capable of doing something. I totally care about the student body. I want to get make it better for the student body. Obviously you get nothing done if you don’t try.”

"We sympathize with our neighbors’ legitimate concerns about living next to a high school with heavy congestion in the mornings and afternoons... This congestion, however, is not caused by student street parking." – GHS Student Government Executive Committee

In Case You Missed It

Indivisible Greenwich, a local chapter of Indivisible, the national movement created to protect America’s democracy during the Trump Administration, will meet on Thursday, February 21st, at 7:00pm, at Eastern Middle School, 51 Hendrie Avenue, Riverside. The meeting will be a joint event co-hosted with Indivisible Stamford, a Stamford chapter of Indivisible.